hydro [CROP] monitor
First-year Graduate School of Design students Tiffany Cheng and Spyros Ampanados felt disconnected from the source of their food. That provided the motivation for their final project in lecturer Alexander Lex’s visualization course. “We wanted to create a tool that would help people understand what goes into growing your produce,” explained Cheng.
This idea was the germ of hydro [CROP] monitor, a custom-built tool designed to help Corner Stalk Farm, a hydroponic farm in East Boston, understand trends and areas for improvement embedded in the volumes of sensor data the farm collects.
Unlike conventional farms, Corner Stalk uses shipping containers as their farmland. Each shipping container is monitored by 9 different sensors. Cheng and Spyros learned that differences in PH levels can affect the taste of produce and that grouping plants with similar properties can greatly improve operational efficiency. The farmers were collecting so much data that they were having difficulty interpreting it all.
While the farm is just now getting their hands on this valuable tool they’re already excited to use it to educate and engage with their farmers’ market customers, a new sales venue they have planned for the near future.
